Art Fleeting as Her
by Summer Lassitude
Summary: A short story on how Deidara came to love fleeting art.  Such a frustrating girl with her stupid views on art and life. But slowly, I began to see. Because she was art.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: ….. Reading the elipsis should've given you enough time to realize that I do not and probably never will own Naruto.**

**So. My first ever fanfiction. I decided to start with something small and stuff. Hope you enjoy, please don't flame, and umm… READ ON! *insert dramatic flourish here***

**Note: I could never take time to finish the series, so if I don't get anything right, I'm sorry! But I will never take the time to watch all 300+ I think? Episodes of Naruto. XD**

I haven't always loved art that was this pure and beautiful.

I didn't always love art that went with a BANG!

I didn't use to care…

But a lifetime ago, I met her.

Such a frustrating girl with her stupid views on art and life. Her eyes were so filled with life though, and her laugh made the sun dim in comparison.

She used to say that life was so beautiful. From the single dewdrop on a blade of grass, to the magnificent sky when the sun set behind the hills.

She used to drag me around, pointing to especially amazing things.

And slowly, I began to see them.

The delicate little spider web, standing strong in the wind.

The way the pouring rain could make little waterfalls off a rooftop.

And the way she _lived_.

I think I could have fallen in love with that girl with the vibrant eyes and her endless sight.

But then, she died.

I watched as a kunai, stuck in her stomach, slowly drained the bright look from her eyes, slowly ended her seemingly endless life.

But then she looked up at me and smiled. She said, "Remember. All life is beautiful, because you know it will end. It is _art_."

Her eyes flashed one more time with the sun, and then she was gone.

Such a fleeting life.

Such a beautiful thing.

She was art.

**So? What'd ya think? 8D**

**Press that gorgeous review button please, and tell me!**

**And I'm thinking of changing this into a 3 chapter ish mabobber. Whataya think? 8D**

**Oh wow I abuse the 8D smiley.  
**


	2. Chapter 1

**I finally figured this publishy thingy out! Yay!**

**Anyways. I don't own Naruto yadda yadda yadda, I changed Deidara's personality cuz not everybody's the same as when they were midgets, um, I own nothing but Hikari...**

* * *

"KATSU!"

He planted chakra into his feet as the explosion blew his clay bird backwards. Staring at the magnificent artwork he had created, the clay artist desperately tried to feel the same spark he had felt when he had first discovered this pure form of art just a few years ago. All he could feel was a hollow feeling inside though, with the picture of eyes that rivaled the sun stuck in his mind.

"Come on brat. I _hate_ making people wait."

Glancing once more at the ruins of what used to be a neighborhood, Deidara made his bird fly towards Sasori-san. Had it only been one year? Just one after that stupid weasel had destroyed his pride? How could art have lost everything so quickly?

Lately, nothing had made him as happy as those times with _her_. He had discovered his perfect art, gotten into an organization where he could show off his work as a mission, yet he felt nothing but emptiness.

Lately, Sasori's wrong beliefs about art had hurt more than before.

Lately, Itachi's perfection made him want to just throw a C3 bomb at him.

Lately he had been thinking about _her_.

The memories came rushing back, all those amazing, frustrating, perfect days.

* * *

"Hi there!"

An annoyingly bright and cheery voice interrupted a ten-year old Deidara's listless staring at an ant crawling over his hand. He decided not to respond. Whoever it was would leave soon. The boys all thought being a hero to their village was amazing, and all the girls said nothing but meaningless chatter. He still didn't understand why he was in the ninja academy.

The sound of fading footsteps told him that the girl was leaving. He sighed in relief.

And was tackled to the ground.

He then proceeded to stare incredulously at the girl sitting on his stomach.

"Not a very good ninja, are you?" she asked, smiling at his face. Her shoulder length brown hair swayed gently in the wind, and her eyes were… Amazing. Gold-flecked chocolate with enough happiness and pure warmth to rival the sun.

Deidara just gaped at her some more.

"Gah you're boring!" She stood up, dusting off her clothes and extended a slightly dirty hand. "My name's Wakahisa Hikari. You can call me Hikari! I'm the new kid, ten, crazy, and you're my new best friend!" Her smile grew wider.

Deidara slowly grasped the offered hand and pulled himself up. "Why me?" was all that he could force out.

Hikari pointed at the group of girls. "Cause they're twittering idiots." She jerked her thumb at the boys. "Cause they're delusional idiots." She blinked happily at him. "Cause you're a different kind of idiot!"

Gaping was all the he seemed capable of.

Deidara kicked at the rocks as he walked across one of the many bridges leading away from the academy. The stupid annoying girl still hadn't left him alone. In fact, she seemed stuck to him and chattered in his ear about random things.

But he would never admit that those topics secretly enthralled him.

Her voice was carefree and true, not like many of the other children, and she talked with passion. He just listened to her voice, and thought.

She had sat next to him during class, talked to him all day long, and was even walking him home. Deidara sighed.

"Come on! Say something! At least tell me your name," Hikari pouted. He avoided looking at her so he would drown in her eyes, and pondered whether to answer her or not.

She seemed to read his mind. "I might stop stalking you as much?" she offered.

"Deidara. Just… Deidara," he said carefully.

"Okay!" And Hikari seemed satisfied to leave it like at that.

They walked in silence, hers a comfortable one, his an awkward one, until Deidara recognized the street they were on.

"My house is over there." He pointed, gauging her reaction warily.

Her eyes widened a bit. "That means we're almost neighbors!" She smiled brilliantly, and laughed like that was the funniest thing in the world.

He stared a bit, confused, but smiled just a tiny bit in response to her unpredictable actions.

"Hurry up!" Hikari shouted as she grabbed his wrist and dragged him forward. The people stared and whispered in the shade of the stone houses, but she ignored them all.

Deidara stared as he got pulled along, and felt the warm sunlight on his skin and the cool breeze through his hair. What a strange girl.

She stopped in front of a small stone house three houses down from his. She laughed and laughed and tried to catch her breath while Deidara stood there, watching.

She suddenly stopped and looked at him with an analyzing look on her face. Gently reaching over and tip toeing to reach his head, she ruffled his hair. He stood there confused, and thought about how he would never understand what went through Hikari's mind.

"Your hair's so soft! And long! And you have a weird bang thing!" she shouted, pulling at it in wonder. Deidara's eyebrows furrowed even more.

"I just love how confused you look. But don't you worry, I've heard about your clay sculptures. I'm going to teach you about real art! And even life…" Her train of thought was really strange to Deidara.

"What?" he asked, trying to understand.

But all Hikari did was laugh once more as explanation, a sound more joyful than anything he could think of, and ran into her house.

He watched her leave, wondering how such a girl like her could exist. How?

Deidara's hands began to itch for clay, to shape into a girl that confused him to no end.

* * *

A present day Deidara sat on his bed in the Akatsuki hideout, wondering. He slowly turned his hands over, looking at the gaping mouths that grinned back at him.

He then slowly got up, and reached into his clay pouch, slowly tracing over the features he had sculpted so many times when he was small. Deidara pulled out a small figurine of Hikari, one of the best he had made of her laughing in the wind on one of those carefree days.

His hands slowly began itching for clay more than ever before, reminding him of that moment four years ago when his hands had felt the desperate need to create. A feeling he had never experienced again until now…

Deidara reached for more clay.

* * *

A ten-year-old Deidara reached for more clay.

The floor of his sparsely decorated bedroom was littered with clay figurines, crushed lumps of clay, or crumpled pieces of paper. Each time he tried to sculpt this fascinating girl, the clay just wouldn't mold, his hands just wouldn't move, or he just sat there, screaming into his pillow. He couldn't understand it. His sculptures were known throughout the village, yet one girl comes along and destroys his art.

But no. Not one girl. Hikari. She had a category all to herself.

Deidara slowly calmed, and reached for another sheet of paper. He would sculpt her if it took all night.

The sky turned black and his clock ticked the hours away. All the houses were dark except for two. If you peered in one, you could see a little blond boy desperately sculpting clay into hundreds of figurines of a single girl. If you peered in another house, the room was empty. But if you looked on the roof and listened carefully, you could hear a voice singing a soft lullaby to the stars.

* * *

Deidara almost screamed. His bedroom in the Akatsuki hideout looked horrible. He had blown up several clay sculptures over the last few days in frustration, so the floors and walls were black and covered with ash. His clay was spread haphazardly on the floor, smeared on the walls, or stuck on him. Deidara's eyes looked half crazed and he had screamed several times in frustration.

Nobody had been let in his room.

He lay on his bed, a pillow covering his face when he remembered a time just like this when he had been ten under the same circumstances.

Deidara laughed with the absurdity of it. Just one girl. One amazing little girl could drive him mad.

He only now noticed one thing about this memory. In the background of his feverish working, he remembered looking out his window and hearing the faint sound of singing. Almost like a lullaby.

He smiled again. _Hikari…_

Desperately keeping that song in mind, he got back to work.

* * *

**So. How'd you like it? 8D**

**Please review! (By the way, this really has no plot whatsoever. I just needed to write this down. XD)**


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